News

With the banking crisis and collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March, and now First Republic, we were anxious to take a look at the recently reported first quarter bank earnings. The following is a brief summary of what we learned. Deposit flows were not straightforward. Deposit flight—a bank run—is ulti­mately what doomed SVB, […]

U.S. population growth has started edging higher again after hitting an alarming all-time low during the pandemic. According to the latest Census data, from July 2021 to July 2022, the U.S. population grew 0.38%. Admittedly, that’s still not great – it’s one of the lowest growth rates since 1900. But it’s better than the extraordinarily […]

In 2015 Xi Jinping announced the “Made in China 2025” initiative. The objective was to move China away from laborintensive, lower-wage industries to more technology-focused ones. The Chinese identified 10 priority sectors where it wanted to compete, and dominate. These included semiconductors, aerospace, biotech, AI, robotics, and electric vehicles. Achieving success would mean faster GDP […]

In my estimation, The Economist weekly newspaper (yes, that’s how they refer to themselves) is the single best read for world economics and politics. The newspaper favors centrist governments and has little reporting bias and rigorous fact checking. What they said recently in a front page section on America is both unexpected and encouraging. We […]

Cybersecurity. It is a term you have most likely heard with increasing frequency. It can seem a bit ominous and a bit nebulous. So what does it mean and why should we care about it? Cybersecurity revolves around the protection of digital information. As our lives have become increasingly digital, the volume of online data […]

The Hanson Index is back for its 37th year, our annual attempt to humanize inflation and track prices for goods and services in the Vermont economy — like for a Big Daddy and coffee at Handy’s Lunch (thanks, Earl) and a Vermont fishing license. With inflation heating up, this is a good time to see […]

These words are from Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve, whose dual charge is maintaining financial stability (code for low inflation) while also ensuring full employment. It’s a difficult and often impossible balancing act. As you can see from the chart below, inflation has not been cooperating with the Fed recently. It has risen […]

Investors were happy to put 2022 in the rearview mirror, and for good reason. By year-end, the broad U.S. stock market was down 18% while bonds, the “steady Eddie” asset class, had fallen a record-breaking 14%. The pain was particularly pronounced for technology investors who had become accustomed to years of steadily rising share prices. […]

Worker shortages are a problem. Everywhere. You know it if you’ve been looking to hire – or trying to see a doctor, renovate a kitchen, or pick up your burger and fries. Everything is harder and takes longer when the help is not there. Whether it’s railroad workers or accountants, there just are not enough […]

The Federal Reserve is in the news a lot. With inflation running hot, everyone is trying to figure out how high the Fed will raise interest rates. At Hanson + Doremus, we are not trying to guess where rates end up, but we do think it is important to understand the Fed and its thinking […]

As if rising inflation, a falling stock market, and the possibility of a recession were not enough, now we are here to talk to you about unhappiness. (Spoiler alert, there is hope and a positive spin at the end). But first the unhappy part. The Gallup organization has been asking people in many countries over […]

Word of the year in 2022. The Economist recently reviewed candidates for 2022’s word of the year. The Ukraine war introduced us to newfangled terms like “MANPADS,” “HIMARS,” and “Loitering Munitions.” In grocery stores we have to deal with “Shrinkflation” (the same price but a shrunk product–think candy bars). Facebook (sorry, forgot the new name […]